Delay on duties for dumping

The Rudd government has deferred, until after the election this year, a decision about whether to accept Productivity Commission recommendations that could lead to an influx of cheap imported goods.

The move comes after unions threatened to campaign against Labor in marginal electorates if the government accepted a draft recommendation for a new public interest test to be applied before anti-dumping duties are imposed on cheap imports.

Home Affairs Minister
Brendan O’Connor
will table the Productivity Commission’s final report on Australia’s anti-dumping laws today – more than five months after it was delivered to his office – but will not endorse any recommendations and will call for further consultation.

A key recommendation for a new public interest test before anti-dumping duties are imposed on cheap imports was changed in the final report, government sources say.

Mr O’Connor wants further consultation because of the recommendations’ potential impact on the federal budget, the sources say. The move is likely to delay a decision until after the federal election.

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The forestry union – led by Mr O’Connor’s brother Michael – vehemently opposes any loosening of anti-dumping laws and has threatened to campaign against Labor in 20 “timber seats" the union says would lose jobs if cheap imports of paper were facilitated.

Michael O’Connor
backed former Coalition prime minister John Howard in the 2004 election when then Labor leader Mark Latham promised to end logging of old-growth forests in Tasmania.

He made the new threats this year after anti-dumping duties were removed on 20,000 tonnes of cheap toilet paper imports that he said threatened the local paper industry.

The Australian Industry Group, which represents manufacturers that may be hurt by an increase in cheap imports, has also lobbied against the public interest test.